United States

UMaine platform to be removed next month

UNITED STATES: University of Maine's (UMaine) 1:8 scale-model of the VolturnUS floating platform will be taken out of the water in November.

A 1:8 scale model of UMaine's VolturnUS platform could be removed from the water

The university's vice president for innovation and economic development, Jake Ward, said the first phase of the scale model testing project was coming to an end of its agreed permit term.

A scale model of the 6MW platform has been operating off the Castine peninsula in Maine for over a year. Ward believed the 17-month permit had given the university enough information to support plans for a longer deployment in the future.

Explaining the short fixed-term deployment, Ward said: "Because of the fixed duration of the Department of Energy (DoE) grants and the lack of actual performance data prior to initial deployment - permits were sought for temporary deployment.

"This initial deployment data will be invaluable for applying for additional permits if a future deployment is necessary."

Ward hopes the project can receive more research and development funding in order to continue testing the platform in the water. He said the model could be moved to another area.

"The 17-month deployment including a full winter has given us a very wide variety of wind/wave events including 50-year and 500-year equivalent scaled events.

"The 1:8 scale platform could be considered a laboratory now," he said.